Sen. Cory Gardner (R).
In October of 2014, the Denver Post delivered its much-anticipated endorsement in the red-hot U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and his Republican challenger Rep. Cory Gardner. The Post’s endorsement of Gardner in this race was delivered more or less on the assurance that Gardner would not represent a threat to the paper’s generally progressive editorial viewpoint, in particular abortion rights after Gardner had invested enormous time and effort living down his stridently anti-abortion record. After Gardner’s narrow win over Udall by less than two percentage points, many Democrats in Colorado took their frustration out on the Post by cancelling their subscriptions–contributing to the paper’s long and steady decline in circulation.
Today, in the wake of Gardner’s brazen about-face on support for President Donald Trump’s controversial national emergency declaration to obtain funds for a border wall without congressional approval, the Denver Post is taking the highly unusual if not unprecedented step of publicly repudiating their own 2014 endorsement of Gardner’s election. Even if you haven’t visited the Denver Post since October 14, 2014, stop what you’re doing and read this now:
We endorsed Sen. Cory Gardner in 2014 because we believed he’d be a statesman. We knew he’d be a conservative voice in Congress, to be certain, but we thought his voice would bring “fresh leadership, energy and ideas.”
We see now that was a mistake – consider this our resolution of disapproval…
Gardner was a never-Trumper in the primary who in recent months endorsed the president’s re-election campaign even as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation continues to unveil the worst of this administrations web of lies and deceit. Tuesday’s vote was the last straw.
It’s not a perfect retraction–the Post called Gardner’s innumerable votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act “defensible,” which in the context of Gardner’s years-long caterwauling about Coloradans “losing their coverage” is simply ridiculous. There’s also an attempt to defend the paper’s endorsement last year of Rep. Mike Coffman, which tells us they’re still capable of being fooled in the exact same manner that Gardner fooled them in 2014. In the end the voters of CD-6 saw through Coffman’s deceptions where the Post didn’t.
But where Gardner is concerned, if there was any doubt that the shine has come off Colorado’s most ambitious and highest-ranking remaining Republican elected official, this un-endorsement puts it to rest. Gardner isn’t just vulnerable on paper in a state trending away from Gardner’s party. Gardner’s game is personally up.
Translation: Our owners try desperately hardvto suck up to winners so we can promote our private business agendas. We guessed right on Cory and Coffman four years ago and were rewarded with tax cuts on businesses like us and rich people, which our owners are. But voters saw through us in the 7th District last year and even we saw the letters L O S E R on Cory's head last ash wednesday. We're in the market for a new water boy in theSenate. To apply call 1-800-suckupp.
Hahahahaha. ….ha! snrk
Seriously – what?!
Was this the lame hey, whatabbouta primary try?
Lame.
Who's left? One of the Coffmans? losers and kinda weird.
Lamborn? um… what?
Senator Tipton.
What we need is a Weld county talent.
yes- State Senate to US Senate – how much diffrent could it be?
Well, you can’t say they didn’t learn something from watching the little weasel . . .
. . . I mean, how many times has he endorsed people or actions, and then later, many times not that much later, retracted???
Someday, if they’re fortunate, the DP editors could have almost as much credibility as Gardner.
Missed opportunity to use "undorsement."
Gardner is so out of touch with Colorado voters today, it's hard to imagine how he was ever elected. I hope he continues to dig in deep with the traitor Trump, it will only increase the margin of his loss in 2020. I hope Hickenlooper has a short presidential run and changes his mind about running for the senate by the end of this year.
I remember clearly…..
It was the perfect storm. He ran a content-free campaign in which he was photographed smiling in front of windmills while his opponent scowled into a camera about one, and only one, issue. (By the way, does everyone know that Mark Udall was pro-choice? And nothing else.)
Then he got some content-free daily rag (which will remain nameless) to tell everyone that Senator Gardner cannot change Roe v. Wade. Strictly speaking, he cannot directly change Roe v. Wade absent engineering passage of a constitutional amendment. But he did have a big say in approving judges who could change Roe.
And finally, 2014 was not a bad year for Republicans, even in Colorado.
…windmills that were only there as a result of legislation and mandates he fundamentally opposed. You’re Spot. on. with the rest of your analysis.
To Chuck Plunkett and the. Denver Post editorial board:
Itlduso.
I wish I could buy mea culpa stock.
Pols conclusion: "Gardner's game is personally up." Not so fast. It all depends on who the Dems nominate.
True. But I have not seen something like a newspaper openly admitting they fucked up in endorsing somebody. They may not endorse someone the next time, but they won't say the previous time was a mistake.
That is true. The last time in Colorado that happened was when one of the papers rescinded its endorsement of Sheri Wolfe for Secretary of State after she and Ben Nighthorse Campbell had their public falling out. That was 25 years ago.
That was also The Denver Post. But we did it before the election — in time to change the result, not more than four years later.
Which goes to show that this is different. This is based on his actual record as a senator.
I'm sure the electorate that sent Jared Polis to the Governor's office with the largest vote total in state history will take pause if someone is too liberal for your taste…
We need to elect someone who can campaign, that's it. A charismatic piece of burnt toast would beat Gardner at this point.
Polis isn't as "liberal" as some people might think. His record on oil & gas, as one example, has been mixed.
On the other hand, Polis has been a strong supporter of public lands and the outdoor recreation economy. Polis also supported retention of the BLM’s methane capture rule in 2017, which makes money for taxpayers. “To conserve is conservative." (TM)
Ask the teachers' unions how exactly liberal Polis is….
It appears my previous comment got duplicated. So here’s a riddle:
What is black, tastes terrible, and would take 52% of the vote against Cory?
A black widow spider?
The moldering remains of John A. Carroll?
What a tremendously stupid editorial.
TL:DR version-
And then;
i.e. We're getting high on our own supply and we still trust this slippery weasel.